Will we see more open source startups in this weak economic climate? Forbes columnist Sramana Mitra has an article, “Open Source Means Business,” describing how such entrepreneurs as Brian Behlendorf of Collab.net and John Roberts of SugarCRM have leveraged open source not just to “scratch an itch” but to build a business. While some have considered open source to be some kind of hippy movement, Behlendorf disagrees:“The term ‘free software’ made it sound like an anti-capitalist movement, yet the reality is we were hardcore capitalists,” he says. “We liked a lot of the attributes of that type of software and felt a rebranding effort was needed. That is when the term ‘open source’ was coined.”As has been noted, open source software and commodity hardware have driven the cost of starting a new business to a fraction of what it once was. No doubt we will see more of this trend in 2009. As Mitra notes:If you are an engineer pondering your career path, you can certainly look at commercial open source as a great model to innovate on a shoestring and jump-start your entrepreneurial career while the world scrambles to recover from the economic crisis. After all, instead of wasting six to nine months looking for a job, wouldn’t you rather spend that time working to take your destiny into your own hands? Open Source